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Nightshade: Hanzo (Good End)

2020-10-28T10:10:21Z

Masterlist

I got like 75% of the way through the Kuroyuki path and it's not bad, but it's hitting some weird buttons for me. So I've decided that rather than being completionist and saving the nicest route for last, I'll just play Hanzo, who I actually feel like playing, and then do the other two when and if I feel up for it.

Anyway: It was really good! He treats Enju as an equal (asides from the...17 year....age gap...) and encourages her to be her best, most amazing self. The age gap is certainly A Lot, and he's explicitly framed as "like her dad but better" a few times, but overall it was surprisingly unsquicky.

Content Note: Suicide

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Nightshade: Chojiro

2020-10-21T05:29:26Z

Masterlist

I knew going in that a lot of people dislike this route. I have complicated feelings, but I'm glad I played it. The lowered expectations helped.

This game is all about how various characters deal with the trauma of being raised to murder from childhood. How Chojiro copes is by doing his best to be a perfect part of the system, even when it is clearly hurting both himself and those he cares about. Which is by turns tragic and frustrating, and while he is 100% Team Enju by the end, he doesn't really apologise.

The route also leans super hard into the "older male relative" incest vibes (cousins don't always feel super incestuous to me but these two do)

Also, for a romance, a surprising amount of the plot involves them not being together. I saw one reviewer describe it as like watching Naruto: lots of ninja drama, not much romance. Some of the tragedy is a bit gratuitous, too.

But I managed to roll with all that and enjoy it.

Content Note: Suicide

( A little more detail on the incest vibe, no spoilers )

My reactions, includes spoilers:
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Nightshade: Goemon

2020-10-18T12:42:51Z

Masterlist

This was great!

I'm not usually into the slightly-dubconny flirty older dude type, but he was really sweet and tortured underneath, and they were just so good for each other that I enjoyed it despite his Issues With Sexual Boundaries. I definitely liked him more than the Goemon in SLBP, they didn't bring up as many Deep Philsophical Questions About Society but also didn't drop the ones they did bring up like a lead balloon, so.

Content note: mild but persistent dubcon from the LI.

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Nightshade Masterlist post

2020-10-18T09:29:03Z

Review: a Japanese otome m/f dating sim about a sad ninja princess questioning whether her life has meaning. It's great! I haven't played all the routes but the ones I did were really well done. They're all ninja she has complicated quasi-incestuous relationships with and tend to involve a certain amount of Angst And Drama About Being A Murderer For Hire, and either you're into that or you're not. But the relationships are all also very sweet and romantic with plenty of light moments, and the stories fit together nicely.

Content note: suicide, emotional abuse.
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Nightshade: Early Common Route

2020-10-18T08:39:06Z

Masterlist

So I bought the ninja otome Nightshade on special and then downloaded it so I could play immediately next time I was in the mood for an otome...and then my internet went down! Thanks for the game, Past Me!

I just finished Goemon's good end and it was GREAT.

The basic setup is that the heroine is the 16 year old princess of a ninja clan in around 1600, and there's a lot of Ninja Angst and Sengoku Political Shenanigans with the same figures I met in Samurai Love Ballad Party and Hakuoki: Demon's Bond, though the shared characters are written very differently.

The overall tone reminds me a lot of the Shadow paths in SLBP. It feels like there's a sort of "clan as abusive family you need to work through your trauma about" metaphor, and all the LIs have a somewhat pseudo-incesty (possibly estranged) family member vibe, though the closest blood relative is a cousin (who is also her teacher so that'll be fun)

The overall plot is apparently the same for each route, and I've heard it gets repetitive and some of the others are ANGSTY. So we'll see how I feel about the game overall. But I'm very positive right now!

Content note: I worry about there being consent issues but nothing very bad actually happens (yet) Spoilers for the first few chapters of the game.
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